Rock Wren

[Bernie Howe]

Got this little guy when he stopped by my back yard..
http://members.cox.net/bphowe/Rock.jpg

50D 400 5.6 ISo400 F5.6

[Terry Hann]

Hi Bernie.
This wren rocks! I would like to see the LHS cropped to remove the leaves and flower as I find they compete for attention with the bird and it would also have the bird facing into the frame rather than facing out. I love the detail and BG. Well done.
Terry

[Dave Mills]

Hi Bernie, I took the liberty to make some changes to your image. The first thing I did was reverse the positioning. I then made a tighter crop eliminating the flower on the left and zeroing in on the center of interest. There seemed to be a light magenta cast on the overall image which I removed. Finally I increased the space on the bottom a bit and filled in some room on the left where I eliminated part of the 4th rock.
The bird appears a bit oversharpened but has a pleasing backround and interesting perch...

[Sandra K. Mathews-Benham]

I'm no pro, so ignore this if you want, but I find that the updated image lacks pizzaz, and actually like the one with the flower better. I am not sure the flower competes for attention with the bird, but it surely makes my eye want to stay "in" the photograph. Perhaps without any depth of colors, this would work better as BW?

DM: I don't have artie's book yet, but is there a rule about left-facing/right-facing birds? I have to admit, the one facing left is more pleasing to me--even when I crop the right-facing as you have cropped your version.

Still learning

[Dave Mills]

Sandra, there is no rule on this. It's my preference. Nobodys comments get ignored...I just don't happen to agree with them.

[Lance Peters]

Hi -Daves repost is more aesthetically pleasing - bird is sharpened too much - backing down the sharpening will improve.

Personally and it is just personal ethics - I would not flip - to me this changes the natural history of the image.

[Terry Hann]

The theory behind left facing and right facing is that we read from left to right, so it looks more natural to read into a photo rather than read out of it. As Lance said though, it changes the natural history of the shot if if everthing is flipped.
Terry

[David Thomasson]

Hi Bernie ... I have been to your fair state of Arizona once (for a conference) and loved it!

I like this little rock wren. I'm seeing signs that some masking has been going on, so you might want to clean those traces up a bit:

http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/2161/masking.jpg

Having spotted that, I figured what's good for the goose is good for the rock wren, so away I went, which
is to say: hog wild. I don't mean this repost as a critique of your photography so much as an exercise
in composition and manipulating a tiny image. I downsized the vegetation, moved it down and in, and (obviously)
turned Mr. Wren about-face. (The stricter constructionists will have me up on charges for sure. :confused:)

http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/6619/hogwild.jpg